A power supply is a device that provides electrical power to a load. Various power supplies for supplying power to electrical devices or systems are known in the art. Some systems utilize a single power supply, while other systems use more than one power supply (such as multiple power supplies coupled in parallel).
Difficulties with some power supply systems may arise during rapid and increasing power delivery conditions. Moreover, in a system with parallel power supplies, a master controller is typically utilized to host a voltage regulator whose output is a current command, which is substantially divided equally among the available power supplies. This architecture often requires a redundant master controller to be available in the event of a primary master controller's failure. In addition to managing the master controllers, problems may arise when trying to satisfy light load current demands. Small currents divided amongst a large number of power supplies can result in each power supply trying to control very small currents, which in contemporary switch mode power supplies is always a challenge. The master controller is also required to keep track of the number of available power supplies in order to properly scale the current command and set the voltage loop dynamics, which is an additional challenge.